survey on the use of daylight simulation tools

Dear colleagues,

In December 2003 we invited you to participate in an online survey on the
current use of daylight simulation tools during building design. Thanks to
your active participation, we collected 185 valid responses from 27
countries. Key findings were:

* survey participants worked predominantly on offices and schools

* tools' complexity and insufficient documentation are weaknesses of
existing programs

* self-training was the most common training method

* tool usage is significantly higher during design development than
during schematic design

* shading type and control are the most common design aspects
influenced by daylighting analysis

* over 50% of selected tools were RADIANCE based

Should you be interested in the results of the survey, you can download a
PDF file with the main findings from
<http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/ie/light/survey.html>
http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/ie/light/survey.html.

Thanks to all of you who took the time to participate in the survey!

Your thoughts and comments are welcome. Greetings from Ottawa,

Christoph
Christoph Reinhart, Ph.D. tel: (613) 993-9703
Research Officer fax: (613) 954-3733
Institute for Research in Construction e-mail:
[email protected]
National Research Council Canada 1200 Montreal Road M-24, Ottawa
Ontario K1A 0R6 Canada

Daylighting Analysis Software:
The Lightswitch Wizard (initial design) www.buildwiz.com
<http://www.buildwiz.com/lightswitch/index.cfm>
DAYSIM (expert software) www.daysim.com
<outbind://51/www.daysim.com> <outbind://51/www.daysim.com>

IEA Task 31
http://www.iea-shc.org/task31/